Lily Pads

The first time I saw lily pads was in the Everett pond on Deepstep Creek. They were in something of a cove in the pond; a little basin of lily pads. My next encounter with lily pads was one summer at Little Ocmulgee State Park . My job at the Park was hauling garbage, groundskeeping; and– tending the lakefront— which usually meant uprooting and removing Prickly Pears. Also, that summer I did odd jobs to supplement my earnings so I could return to college in the fall; one job was babysitting. That’s where I earned admiration from Sadie, the eight-year-old next door. Her parents often hired me to baby-sit She knew about my work at the park and wanted to go on a boat ride.

One afternoon, Sadie’s dad brought her to the park as I as getting off work. He said wearily, “She’s yours till dinner time!” Sadie and I got into a john-boat and paddled up near a growth of Cypress trees. I spotted a cluster of lily pads with their beautiful blossoms. Sadie insisted that we pick a few, to bring home and plant in their back-yard Koi pond. I reached over the boat hull and managed to reel in, by its very long stem, one lily pad . Caked on the root was an awful chunk of black, smelly, sticky, mud. Sadie ignored the mud and gushed over the beauty of the lily pad’s blossom. She put the whole mess into a bucket in the boat; satisfied with her haul, and that we had preserved enough nourishment for it to survive, she was ready to go home.

That lily pad became something of a a parable for me; the contrast! This beautiful pristine, white, blossom arose from dark, dank, disgusting lake mud. Two comparable images came to mind; 1) There are people born in, and/or brought up in, squalid, horrid environs; They weathered and rose above those conditions, blossoming into magnificent human beings . And the other image, 2) The redemptive transformative power of God; God can use even the most unpleasant, disgusting elements to perform His magnificent creations. The Psalmist puts it this way;

“He also brought me up out of a horrible pit,
Out of the miry clay,
And set my feet upon a rock,
And established my steps”. (Psalm 40:2)

Water Lilies, Lily Pads, Lotus blossoms, are sought after the world over; Maybe you’ve encountered a body of water populated with lily pads; most likely you’ve been amazed at how these unusual aquatic plants float on top of the water. They actually have built-in flotation support. Although these plants appear to be floating placidly, there is actually a lot going on beneath the calm surface for important reasons. Lily pads are an important part of the ecosystem. Lily pads are just one part of a larger pond-plant species that thrives in shallow lakes and ponds. There are about 70 different species of this aquatic flowering plant, found in both temperate and tropical zones.     

Lily Pads floating on the water provide something of an oxygenator for their roots, buried in the mud. They also provide place for frogs to rest in the sun, protected from underwater predators; their round leaf, looks like a little green Kiosk table. Underneath the frogs floating on the surface of a pad, fish rest in their shade; shielded from waterbirds and other predators. Before you rush out to bring home lily pads, do a little research; some are invasive to certain environments. Enjoy their beauty–at a distance—where they safely grow, displaying their exquisite beauty. Lily pads remind me of the hymn, For the Beauty of the Earth.

“For the beauty of the earth, Of the day and of the night, Hill and vale and tree and flower, Sun and moon and stars of light. Lord of all we raise, This our song of grateful praise!”